


Something He Can't Break

by Elleth



Category: A Redtail's Dream (Webcomic)
Genre: Enemy Lovers, First Kiss, Foxes Made Them Do It, Hypothermia, M/M, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 19:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15468291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elleth/pseuds/Elleth
Summary: Puppy-Fox finds himself in a human body, and with a particular caveat regarding Hannu.





	Something He Can't Break

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TereziMakara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TereziMakara/gifts).



"It's simply unbearable!" 

With every word from behind the door, Puppy-Fox felt his ears dip back further against his head, and his tail seemed to be developing a mind of its own the way it crept between his hind legs. 

The discussion in the den continued, all grumbles, bellows and whining; there was no voice from any of his relatives that sounded _normal_. 

Puppy-Fox swallowed, and tried to stop listening - if they caught him, there was no pretending he'd come past the door accidentally; it was a dead-end corridor of the den, and the only reason he'd be there for in the first place was to listen in secret. That'd only make matters worse for him than they already were, but since he was the reason for the Fox Family's emergency council, it only seemed right to know what that council decided.

"He's gone and done it again, the human boy is going to think he's mad if…" 

"My only son! Not just a disgrace, _worse_! Turning himself into one of those hairless monkeys just to…" 

"Well, you can't expect him to act like something he isn't; he'll keep up with the mischief because it's in his nature..." 

"... his punishment clearly isn't working. He kept smushing Mr. Bear's blueberries _and_ broke Mr. Moose's dishes out of spite, and now he's messing with that mortal boy's dreams again - if Kokko hadn't picked him out of there, who knows what he could have broken this time?!" 

"Give him something he _can't_ break without consequences, then!" 

Puppy-Fox stifled a whimper low in his throat as silence fell after the latest suggestion. It was the kind of silence he was all too familiar with - the kind of silence that felt like grim satisfaction and an irrevocable decision. 

*

When Puppy-Fox woke next, something was digging into his back. It was a root, he discovered when he shifted to dislodge it - a root under snow, snow that slipped inside his 

_fur_ \- ? 

No. 

Poop.

Parka? 

Pants? 

_Poop._

Puppy-Fox climbed to his feet - all the two of them that there were - and looked around the frosted-over forest road - a road that looked all too familiar. The marks of something heavy sliding down the bank under a thin layer of fresh snow, the dark, reddish stain still faintly visible under the new fall, the footsteps - dog and human, a second human - and fox.

And boots, dark leather with trimmings of red fur, as if it was meant to be a reminder. Puppy-Fox lifted his face to the sky and howled - a sound that would have been beautifully high and thin in his usual voice, now it turned out garbled and guttural, unfamiliar in his throat and dim and painful in his ears. On the darkening sky in between the clouds, the fox-fires flickered, not once or twice, but drawn-out. 

His family, laughing at him.

He looked around. There was nothing but the forest and the empty road, no sign of anyone anywhere. It was getting dark in between the trees; and cold even under his parka. 

"You didn't even warn me!" he bellowed at the sky. "I could have talked you out of it! How am I supposed to get home?!" 

The stars flickered. The fox-fires faded out with the swirl of a foxtail - Puppy-Fox knew the movement too well, his ungrateful mother turning her back on her only son once again. He remembered her, suddenly, talking about those hairless monkeys and how Kokko had caught him visiting that jerk Hannu's dreams to make sure they were interesting - it just was fair, after that human and his stupid dog had landed him in that pickle in the first place - all for a tiny mistake that could have happened to anyone.

And now he was stuck - on Earth! In a human body! 

"Fine," he bellowed a the sky, wincing at his own voice again. "I'll be a human, and I'll be the best human ever! Just watch me!" 

He'd learned, more than just insignificant insects, humans were vile. He could be vile if they wanted him to. And he was going to find that Hannu and make him wish he'd stayed in Tuonela. 

Puppy-Fox started walking, tottering a little until he found his footing and got used to the new posture and movements that kept him upright, and began following the trail of Hannu's footsteps. 

* 

He reached the village eventually. 

It was fully dark then, the windows glowing more invitingly than they had any right to for human houses, and he was shivering in spite of the brisk walk. This wouldn't have happened if he still had his fur, he was reasonably sure. He was _completely_ sure that he would not have lost Hannu's trail if he still had his own nose. The man walking his dog he'd come across in the village's main street when no one else was around gave him a raised eyebrow to find him on all fours, sniffing around the snow at an intersection, and walked slightly faster, muttering "come on, Astrid" as he tugged his dog along. 

He went for the only place in town that seemed open and welcoming; Kuikka's Store. As if the gods actually smiled on him for that decision when even his family didn't - behind the windows was Hannu, handing another human a bag of groceries. 

It meant that there were other people there too, which was less ideal, but at least it gave him a start. The bell above the door chimed as he entered, and stopped short. Across at the back wall a shelf of fruit and vegetables stood, with a row of mirrors set above it. From the mirror, a redheaded stranger stared at Puppy-Fox, fox-faced with a pointy nose and an expression that he was reasonably sure meant mischief. 

He winked at his reflection. 

"Hey! Done flirting with yourself?" a cheerful female voice rang from the other end of the display, where a girl in an apron with the store's logo was sorting apples into a crate. "Can I help you with anything, stranger? Pretty sure I haven't seen you around before!" 

"I - ah, no. I'm here to visit Hannu?" 

The girl's forehead wrinkled in a frown, immediately suspicious. It showed in her voice, too. Puppy-Fox decided he liked her, even if she was being inconvenient. "So who are you, another of his friends from out of town that he doesn't have?" 

"Yeah? Well, no. I'm from out of town, but I'm not a friend. I'm his…" he thought - if he was going to make Hannu miserable, he'd have to start early, and as far as he knew, humans had always been addicted to drama about love. "... his boyfriend?" 

The girl's eyes bulged in surprise; she gaped. "No way! _I'm_ his girlfriend!" 

Puppy-Fox tried to hide a smirk; it was harder than he anticipated with unfamiliar facial muscles and his mouth twitched in spite of himself. This was starting out better than expected. "No, really! We met… ah…"

"... on grindr, yeah, I get it. No need to elaborate. HANNU! Get your ass over here, your boyfriend wants to see you!" 

"Fuck off, Jonna!" A voice sounded from the other corner of the store, its owner hidden from view behind the shelves, but as annoyed and sour as he always sounded. Pupp-Fox's heart leapt - it was working already! The girl gave him another look with a raised eyebrow. "Joona's over here!" 

"You wish!" A male voice, much like the girl's. 

"... what?" Puppy-Fox blinked, and the girl burst into laughter. 

"Yeah, no, you're not his boyfriend, my brother's not his boyfriend, I'm not his girlfriend. I'm just pulling your leg. Hannu's a jerk as they come, but he's not that terrible. So. Who're you?" 

"Pik… _Mikko_. Yes. I'm Mikko. He really never mentioned me? Mikko Repolainen?" 

"No. Good name there though, Fox-Face, it fits you. So who are you really? You know, it's weird, two friends we never heard from before showing up in just a few days, first Ville, then you. At least you're not called the same as his mysteriously disappeared dog." 

"He's not mysteriously disappeared, he's… with Hannu's parents. And now I'm here instead, so you don't have to deal with two Villes at once!" A new voice pitched in, and even with new ears and a new body, Puppy-Fox still recognized the dog's voice as he came out of a back room carrying a crate of bananas. He tried hard not to growl.

"Hello." 

"No love lost between you two. Okay, good to know. Hannu, your boyfriends are fighting, help me break them up!" 

"Cut the crap, Jonna!" Finally, footsteps approached, and a grumpy-looking Hannu ducked into sight around an aisle of rye bread - and stopped short.

Puppy-Fox sucked in a breath. 

_Give him something he_ can't _break without consequences, then!_

Hannu sucked in a breath.

When Puppy-Fox had imagined, ever since his arrival, on the miserable trudge toward Hokanniemi, that his mother had meant this frail, mortal body he was stuck in, but the surge of warmth - followed by anger and exasperation that followed hot on his heels, finally clued him in that she'd meant something else entirely, and from the expression on Hannu's face, mirroring his own so closely, he felt the same. 

His heart. 

Puppy-Fox would have sworn on every god and spirit that he could hear his mother's voice loud and clear just then. "Have fun, darling!" 

Poop. 

* 

"I'm not taking him home! _Absolutely NOT!_ I don't even _know_ this guy, he's probably some crazy asshole who wants to murder me in my sleep! He - " 

Ville - the bloody dog; Puppy-Fox had to stifle a growl just looking at his face - eyed him up and down while Hannu gaped like a fish for something to continue his tirade. Finally, Ville cut in, "If he does that I'll murder him in his sleep! I could do it!" 

Puppy-Fox gulped. He remembered the arrow through his throat very well, and that put a wrench into his plans. 

So did the damned trick his family had played on him. His heart sped up like a crazy thing every time he so much as thought about Hannu, much less looked at him. He could have sworn that even terrible as his nose was, Hannu's scent went straight to his head and made him feel like that time he'd stolen too many of Mr. Bear's overripe cherries. 

This was terrible. The only thing that made it even slightly better was Hannu staring at the floor like he wanted to murder that, and a flush on his face that'd clued everyone in that they _did_ know each other, even if neither of them could explain how without sounding like they'd lost it. 

Joona, who'd come to join the circle they made by the fruit-and-vegetable display, crossed his arms. "I don't think so, Ville. No offense, but you couldn't harm a fly." 

"O-ooh, maybe not a fly. But I… I went fox-hunting with Hannu once." 

"Riiiight," that was Jonna cutting in. "So spit out what's going on unless you want us to lock you into the garden shed... " she drew out the last word with obvious relish. " _Together_."

Hannu snarled wordlessly and kicked at the floor. "No! Fine, I'm taking this bastard home, it's too late to walk back now to where he's staying. We met in the woods a couple of days ago. He's a tourist from… from... ah, hell… Helsinki. Yes. His family is staying over in Rovaniemi." 

Puppy-Fox held his breath for a moment, to get rid of the damnable warmth at the idea that Hannu was lying for his sake. 

"Y-yes, that's right," he said quickly. "I just… I thought maybe you thought I was crazy to show up here for Hannu's sake when we only knew each other a little bit." He threw in his best disarming grin to make it easier to buy, to meet with disbelief from two almost-identical pairs of eyes, an eyeroll from Ville, and Hannu pointedly staring at some point over his shoulder not meeting his eyes. 

"Okay," Hannu sighed. He still sounded grumpy as all-out, which was great. "Ville, can you take over the rest of my shift? I have to have a private talk with this _foxy_ asshole here about how it's not okay to ambush me like that." 

"A-alright?" Ville whined and Puppy-Fox found himself on the receiving end of another glare as they turned to leave, Ville's lips lifting a little in a slightly inhuman expression that wouldn't have looked out of place in a dog's face. 

Puppy-Fox grinned at him. 

* 

"Why are you _here_ , and why are you _like this_?!" The store door hadn't shut all the way behind them when Puppy-Fox found himself yanked close by the collar of his parka, so close their faces were almost touching. He hadn't expected Hannu to be strong enough to do that, but his heart beat wildly in response _again_. On an impulse - fox instincts were still running high in him - he licked Hannu's nose.

"GAH!" Hannu recoiled, stumbled, and ended up sitting on his butt in the snow at the foot of the stairs. "What in hell is wrong with you?"

Puppy-Fox laughed. "I'll tell you, when those guys" - he gestured to the store windows, where Jonna and Joona were pressing their noses against the glass to see past the light inside, and Hannu flipped them off - "are out of earshot, okay? I don't really know how far that is."

"Not that far," Hannu snarled, climbing to his feet to start walking. "Come on, or I'm leaving you out here." 

"I'll just follow you home!" 

Hannu kicked a clump of ice-crusted snow from the roadside at his face that Puppy-Fox managed to only just duck. 

"I'll have Ville shoot you again."

"Doesn't matter, my family's just going to send me back here, I think. Maybe you can't even kill me at all. I'm still a spirit, you know, even if I'm stuck in a human body now. It's part of my punishment, see? For messing with you in that one dream, the one in forest. And since we… did… things… then, I'm pretty sure I'm stuck here until you fall in love with me, so if you'd just hurry up and do that, that'd be good. They've given me your heart so I learn not to break it, and really, I just want to go home and you want to get rid of me, so if we can just do that…?" 

Puppy-Fox blinked, then paused. He hadn't known most of that, and that hadn't been his original plan of messing with Hannu either, but he was still pretty sure he'd just told the truth. Didn't matter. He wasn't bound by anything except this stupid predicament. He could still mess with Hannu.

Hannu had stopped, staring with his mouth open and his eyes narrowed to slits. He kicked up another clump of ice, and this time he didn't miss. Puppy-Fox was pretty sure he heard something in his face creak that wasn't supposed to make that noise, and then something hot was running over his fingers; as he pulled them away from clutching his stupid, human nose, he discovered that it was blood, and all that was still visible of Hannu were his footprints in the snow.

* 

It was Ville who found him curled up on Hannu's doorstep a few hours later. It had been easy enough to find tracking his footsteps onto one of the lesser-used roads. By then, Puppy-Fox felt nice and toasty warm, although his fingers and toes and center had stopped feeling anything at all. He smiled and waved up at Ville, then he sneezed miserably and flecked the snow with blood all over. 

He didn't even protest when Ville opened the door so he toppled into the hallway, and the stupid dog pulled him in all the way. At least it was warmer than the outside; maybe now he wouldn't end as a human-shaped popsicle. This would not have happened if he still had his own shape and his beautiful russet fur, he thought, just as a bird swooped down to carry him off to sleep.

* 

In his dream - which wasn't a dream at all - Hannu was wrestling with the plastic wrapping of a frozen chicken, and Puppy-Fox sniggered watching the chicken go flying out of his hands until Ville pounced it halfway across the kitchen - meanwhile, he saw himself in Hannu's bed, his face clean, fast asleep and smiling with a hot water bottle at his feet and the thermostat turned up high so the room was boiling warm enough for him to even notice it in his sleep. 

He wondered for a moment whether he should just get Hannu in trouble a little more and die on him if he just went home as he was, but weirdly, he _hated_ the thought, and decided against it, just as the clatter of a pot jerked him out of sleep seamlessly, and the smell of something slightly burned and chicken-y hit his nose. 

His stomach growled in spite of himself, and just like that, he felt a smile coming on when Hannu entered the room with a bowl of something that Puppy-Fox supposed was meant to be chicken soup. 

"That smells… like food?" he managed. Even if that food contained something that looked like a plastic scrap, wormy little noodle things and lots of vegetables, which he hated, and probably none of the chicken bits he'd been looking forward to. 

"Thank you," Hannu said, setting the bowl down so hard that it sloshed over the nightstand and onto the mattress. "That's what humans say when someone does something nice for someone they hate and they're stuck with thanks to their own idiocy." 

"Thank you." 

"Wait, did that actually sound sincere? Are you okay? Is your brain still frozen or did you suddenly stop being an evil little jerk who's only out to make lives miserable? Anyway, the soup's instant from a bag, don't think I care about you in any way." 

"Isn't. I saw you. I don't think I have powers in this stupid body - really, how do you humans live in them?! - but I saw you cook while I was asleep. You actually cooked for me!" 

"Listen -" Hannu sat down on the bed heavily, grabbing Puppy-Fox by the lapels of his shirt, much like earlier outside the store, but his grip was gentler now, and there was a feeling of insecurity in the touch that sent Puppy-Fox's heart racing yet again; this was much more like in the dream in the forest with Hannu that'd gotten him to Earth in the first place. " - if you step out of line once, I'll get Pekka's crossbow and shoot you again. I _mean_ it. If any of the others ask, you'll pretend you don't know shit and let me do the lying -" 

" - I'm a good liar. It's what foxes do best - " 

"I don't care!" Hannu shook him, and Puppy-Fox's teeth snapped shut. His family did that, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and shaking, it was instinct to let himself drop into the pillows. His family never hung on to the lapels of his shirt and followed him down the way Hannu did now, even if in accident. 

Their faces were really very close.

"So, you've been warned," Hannu said. "One paw out of line, I'll kill you. But I'll try to pretend. Can't promise more, I hate you too much, but I want you out of my life." 

"Okay," Puppy-Fox said. He fought down the urge to lick Hannu's nose again, successfully this time. Instead he leaned up, and brought their lips together. 

Hannu tasted like surprisingly decent chicken soup. All in all, that felt like an omen, even more so when Hannu scoffed, paused, and kissed him back. It was slobbery and uncoordinated, and Puppy-Fox only sort-of understood what humans saw in it, but his heart was still running away with him. 

It didn't even stop feeling like an omen when Puppy-Fox was alone again to eat after the kiss - Hannu almost stumbled over his own feet leaving the room so quickly, and he found more than just a plastic scrap, he found an entire little plastic bag full of chicken innards in his bowl. 

He might be stuck in a human body, he thought as he hid the bag under Hannu's mattress, where it'd start to smell beautifully soon enough, but he still was fox enough to appreciate the opportunities for mischief Hannu was handing him on a silver platter.

It'd be beautiful. Maybe he'd even manage to not break Hannu's heart in the process. 

Maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> Mikko, apparently, is a Finnish male name, but also a descriptor of the fox - thanks, Laufey, for this tidbit! Repolainen is the Finnish word for foxes, and Puppy's last name in aRTD.


End file.
